wise than justly (vers. 2-7). He then illustrates is substantially that already given by Schuland supports the proposition that God causes an tens: the former designates the justice of God evil and sudden end to overtake those who apos- as embodied in act, actio judicandi; the latter as tatize from him by certain wise proverbial say-a principle or rule in the Divine mind.-E.]. ings of the ancients (vers. 8-19). He closes by Ver. 4. If thy children have sinned prominently setting forth the twofold activity against him.-Only to spare Job's feelings Bilof the retributive justice of God (vers. 20-22), a dad avoids saying: "because thy children have conclusion which is so far conciliatory in its ten- sinned," and so leaves it apparently uncertain dency in that it gives stronger expression to the whether this formed the ground of the Divine hope that Job, through repenting of his sin, decree concerning their fate-but only appawould experience the justice of God rewarding rently, since he clearly regarded this decree as him, than to the fear of the opposite, or a warna punishment for their sins, as the conclusion ing of the consequences of his impenitence. proves. [Conant thinks this hypothetical use of [It is to be specially noted in this connection to be not at all in the spirit of Bildad." B. makes no reply to the harsh personal re- He takes it to be concessive-"though thy sons proaches of ch. vi. 14-27, but confines himself to have sinned against Him, and He hath given the subject-matter." Dillmann]. Of the three divisions of the discourse, which are somewhat them, etc., if thou thyself wouldest seek God, unequal in length, the first comprises 2 strophes, the second 4, the third 1, each of three verses. 2. First Division: Rebuke of Job's unjust accusation of God, as though He were unmerciful and unjust towards him, vers. 2-7.

First Strophe: Vers. 2-4. [The certainty that retributive justice will punish the sinner]. Ver. 2. How long wilt thou speak such

.ch) עַד־אָנָה as elsewhere עַד־אָן ?things

etc."

makes the protasis needlessly long. (2) It deTo which it may be objected: (1) This and 5: between the hypothetical proposition stroys the evident contrast between verses 4 concerning the children's sin in the former, and the conclusion therefrom, and the similar hypothetical proposition concerning Job's repentance in the latter, and the conclusion therefrom in vers. 6, 7.—DN is undoubtedly used in the same way in both propositions, and if conditional in xviii. 2; xix. 2): lit. until when, quousque tan- the latter, is conditional also in the former. At dem [An exclamation of impatience." Dav. the same time it does not seem that Bildad uses "The friends had expected that after so tho- in the former case out of any particular conrough and unanswerable an argument as that which Eliphaz had delivered in their name, Job would at once acknowledge himself convinced, an expectation which Eliphaz himself had confidently announced at the close of his discourse. -The fact proves to be just the reverse: Job speaks more defiantly than at first. And so Bildad introduces his discourse with his exclamatory, a veritable Quousque tandem abutere patientia nostra." Schlottm.], these things, i. e., such things as thou hast spoken. [Said contemptuously, as also in the next member]. And the words of thy mouth are a boisterous wind? Properly a continuation of the preceding interrogative construction: "how long shall the words of thy mouth be a boisterous wind?" i. e., like such a wind in respect of their emptiness [and bluster], as well as of their sweepingly destructive tendency (comp. ch. xv. 2; xvi. 3; 1 Kings xix. 11). For 122, poetic synonym of (ch. i. 19) comp. ch. xv. 10; xxxi. 25; xxxiv. 17, 24; Isa. xvii. 12. [The word is peculiar to the book of Job and Isaiah].

sideration for Job's feelings. He uses it apparently in its purely logical sense, and this, too, with an assumption of the truth of the supposition which makes itself felt throughout the entire verse.-E.]—Then hath he given them over into the hand of their transgression. on, lit., "then hath He let them go into the hand, (i. e., into the power) of their transgression," subjected them to the influence of their guilt. [An expression of fearful energy" (Dav.) implying the self-retaliatory power of sin, the certainty that the moral order of the universe, enforced by the Divine will, will punish the transgressor.-E.] Comp. ch. ix. 24; Judg. iv. 9; 1 Sam. xxiii. 20.-Concerning the retrospective reference of the verse to ch. i. 19, comp. Introd., 8 8, No. 3.

Second Strophe: Vers. 5-7. [The certainty that retributive justice will reward Job, if pure.]

Ver. 5. But if thou seekest earnestly unto God.--, constr. prægnans, as above ch. v. 8: -, to sue God for anything, to turn oneself to Him with earnest entreaty., thou, puts Job in emphatic contrast with his children (ver. 4 a), as one who still has time to repent and to be reconciled, as the condition of the restoration of his prosperity. [And makest supplication to the Alforce of reflex Hithp., seek to make God gracious mighty.-Davidson calls attention to the "fine

Ver. 3. Will God pervert the right, or the Almighty pervert justice? i. e., canst thou think for thy part that, etc.? Canst thou in sober earnest accuse God of injustice? "Observe the repetition of the verb y, on which there rests an emphasis which for Job was particularly stinging." Umbreit. [Davidson,e. g., more corto oneself." Observe also in this verse as in rectly on the whole perhaps: "the repetition of pervert shows that it is not the emphatic word, ver. 3 the use in parallel clauses of El and Shadwhile the variation of the divine names, as well dai, the names most suggestive of God's power as their position at the head of the clauses, to uphold the moral order of the universe, thus throws the emphasis on the Divine Being-will using the terror of the Lord to persuade Job. -E.] God, etc." The distinction between and Ver. 6. If thou art pure and upright.—

With supply 7, which is elsewhere put in connection with the Hiphil. Olshausen's emendation 12, suggested by Deut. xxxii. 10, is unnecessary.

=

This new conditional clause is not co-ordinate quity.-, research (ch. v. 9; ix. 10; xxxiv. with the preceding, but subordinate to it: "pro- 24), here in the sense of the object, or the revided, namely, thou art really pure and upright, sults of research, that which is searched out. if it be really the case that thou," etc. Surely then He will awake for thee.-nny "surely then, verily then," emphatic introduction of the conclusion, as in ch. xiii. 18.Th, He will awake, arouse Himself for thee Ver. 9. For we are of yesterday, and (comp. Ps. xxxv. 23), namely, for thy protec- know nothing.-This is the reason why we tion and deliverance; not: He will watch over should hold to the tradition of the ancients. thee, take thee under His care (Hirzel, Delitzsch Lit., "we are yesterday," i. e., of, or belonging [Dav., Renan, Merx] etc.), which would be alto- to yesterday (Sina – bin♫ WIN, Ewald, § 296, gether at variance with the usual signification d). The stress here laid on the ephemeral chaof the verby. And restore Dh, in in-racter of the present generation is then in the tegram restituet; the LXX. correctly: Kai аTOKα- second member illustrated and strengthened by TaoThσel) the habitation of thy righteous- the figure of a shadow (x); comp. ch. xiv. 2; ness, i. e., the habitation where thou, as a righteous man, dost dwell and enjoy the fruits Ps. cii. 12 (11); cix. 23; Eccles. vi. 12; viii. 13, of thy righteousness (Dillmann).-—On see on also the Greek phrase σκιᾶς ὄνας άνθρωπος (Pinch. v. 3. dar, Pyth. 8, 99; comp. Sophocles, Aj. 126, 1236; Ant. 1155; Euripides, Med. 1224, etc.) This fact, that the life of men is so perishable and short is the reason for the demand here made that we should apply ourselves to the wisdom of the ancients, the term of a single human life being insufficient to fathom the eternal laws which rule the universe; to ascertain these we nity throughout the past. There is no specific must consult the collective experience of humaproof that the author here had in mind the remote generations of the primeval world, to wit, the macrobiotic races of the ante-diluvian period.

Ver. 7. And if thy beginning was small thy end shall be exceeding great. In addition to the restoration of his former prosperity he promises him something new and yet more glorious, an unconscious prophecy of that which in the end actually came to pass (ch. xlii. 12), exactly like the promise of prosperity in the latter part of Eliphaz's discourse: ch. v. 8 sq. !, lit., "and thy last end (thy latter estate, in contrast with , thy former estate, thy prosperity in the beginning) will flourish greatly." is here exceptionally and ad sensum construed as masculine; hence the form (comp. Ewald, 174 e), instead of which Olshausen unnecessarily proposes to read

:

.as subject אֵל with ,יַשְׂנֶה

דבר than

Ver. 10. Will not they teach thee [D emphatic], say to thee [, "say," rather "speak," because their words are cited in the verses following], and bring forth words out of their heart?-The heart is mentioned here as the seat of understanding and reflection, in contrast with Job's expressions, as the mere empty products of the lips (ver. 2; ch. xi. 2; xv. 8, etc.; comp. (ch. xxxiv. 10, 34), "a man of heart," i. e., of understanding. In regard to I, proment, proferent

T

3. Second Division: A reference to the wise teachings of the ancients touching the merited end of those who forget God. [In respect of its artistic, flowery, and yet concise style" (as well as in respect of the searching practical character of its contents), "this passage forms the climax of the whole discourse." Ewald.] First Strophe: Vers. 8-10. Praise of the wis-(Vulg.), comp. Matth. xiii. 52. dom of the ancients, by way of introduction to the express testimonies of that wisdom which follows.

see

2

Second Strophe: Vers. 11-13. First specimen, as reported by Bildad, of the wise teachings of the ancients, not indeed cited verbally, but still Ver. 8. Inquire, I pray, of the former ge- reproduced freely, and in exact accordance with neration. As to the challenge in general, comthe sense. [This introduction of the proverbial wisdom of antiquity in Bildad's discourse is a pare Deut. xxxii. 7. For with ?, masterly stroke of art, worthy of especial note Kings viii. 6; for the orthographical form (1) Because of the new and interesting element instead of ji, see below, ch. xxxix. 9 (which it contributes to the rhetorical variety of instead of DN). Whether the indefinite ex-feature in our author's dramatic portraiture of the book. (2). Because of its significance as a pression be rendered by the singu- character, Bildad being here presented to us as lar, as above, or by the plural-" former gene- the disciple of tradition, the proverbial philorations"-is a matter of indifference. In any sopher," in contrast with the more mystically case no particular generation of the past is in- inclined Eliphaz, and the more dogmatic and tended, as appears also from the following ex- self-assertive Zophar. (3). Because of the conpression" their fathers," (i. e., the fathers of tribution thus furnished to the material of the those former generations).-And give heed to book, to the discussion of its great problem, Bilthe research of their fathers: i. e., to that dad here furnishing to this discussion the voice which their fathers had investigated and learned, of tradition, even as Eliphaz had furnished the to the experimental wisdom therefore of the voice of the supernatural world. See below fathers reaching back into the remotest anti- Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks, No. 1.—E.].

64

т

E.] Dillmann correctly calls attention to the fact that the figure of the reeds and grass of the marshes perishing by the sudden drying up of the water is intended to illustrate, not the judgment which will visit those who have always been ungodly, but only those who were at one time righteous, and therefore prosperous, but who afterwards fall away from God. In so far the description conveys a somewhat different thought from that in ch. v. 3.

A

Third and Fourth Strophes: vers. 14-19. further description of the judgment of God upon the wicked, founded on the proverbial wisdom of the ancients.

Ver. 14. He whose confidence is cut

Ver. 11. Does the rush grow up without the hope of the ungodly perisheth: comp. mire [or, except in the marsh]?-i, ac- Prov. x. 29. as in ch. xiii. 16; xv. 34; xx. cording to the Hebr. etymology from 1, to 5, and often. [In all these passages, and whereswallow, absorb, fistula bibere (comp. ch. xxxix. ever the word occurs, the Eng. Ver. renders 24; Gen. xxiv. 17), but also at the same time "hypocrite," which is altogether incorrect, an Egyptian word (Copt. kam, cham, reed), the idea of dissimulation not belonging to the denotes here, as in Ex. ii. 3; Is. xviii. 2; xxxv. word at all. This rendering is the more strange, 7, the Egyptian papyrus reed, which grows in the marshes of the Nile, but which, according rendered to be polluted, profane, corrupt, etc. seeing that the cognate verb is always correctly to Theophrast, grows also in Palestine, the papyrus-shrub (Cyperus papyrus L.). The mention of this Egyptian product does not constitute a conclusive argument for the composition of the poem in Egypt, or by a poet of Egyptian origin, and all the less that Bildad is here only quoting the words of another and an older sage. Comp. Introd. 7, c. ["Bildad likens the deceitful ground on which the prosperity of the godless stands to the dry ground on which, only for a time, the papyrus or reed finds water, and grows up rapidly; shooting up quickly, it withers as quickly; as the papyrus plant, if it has no perpetual water, though the finest of grasses, withers off when most luxuriantly green, before it attains maturity." DELITZSCH; see also Smith's Bib. Dic., Art. "Reed"]. Does the reed- asunder.-UN as in ch. v. 5, an independent grass thrive without water? reads in rel. pron., connecting the verse with what goes before; not a causal particle: quippe, quoniam the Egyptian Greek of the LXX. (Is. xix. 7), and of the Book of Sirach (ch. xl. 16) ax, and, (Del.). Dip is hardly a substantive, either of as Jerome learned from the Egyptians, signifies the signification "gourd" (Reiske, Hahn) or in their language omne quod in palude virens nas- "gossamer" (Saadia, in Ewald-Dukes, Beiträge citur, hence the grass of the Nile-marshes, seed-zur Gesch. der ält. Auslegung, I., 89). [Fürst grass, Nile-grass (Copt. ake, oke=calamus, jun- and Hengstenberg prefer regarding it as a noun, meaning "that which is to be rejected."] Both cus). Instead of of the first member, we as to the form and substance of the word, the have here, in the sense of "without;" for only justifiable construction of it is as a Kal Imthe former comp. ch. xxx. 28; for the latter ch. perf., deriving it either from p-p, fastidire xxiv. 10; xxxi. 39; xxxiii. 9, etc. [ is pro- or with the Pesh., Chald., Kimchi, Rosenm., (Vulg. and many of the ancients, also Schultens), perly constr. st. of noun, failure, lack.] Of the Gesen., and most of the moderns, from a verb two synonymous verbs, N in the first member op (=3p), "to cut off" (he, whose hope is signifies a "shooting up on high," an expression cut off, cujus spes succiditur); or, which may be suitable to the size of the papyrus, which grows still more correct, from P, not elsewhere to be to the height of ten feet; (another form met with, and meaning "to cut, to be brittle, to of, ver. 7; comp. Gesen. 75, Rem. 21 break asunder," and so treating it as an intran[3 74, Rem. 22]), in the second member, a luxu-sitive verb, rather than as Kal Imperf. with a riant out-spreading growth, an expression suita- passive signification [comp. Ewald, 138, ¿].— ble to the nature of the marsh-grass. And his trust is a spider's house: i. e. that Ver. 12. While yet (it is) in its greenness in which he trusts (, sensu obj., of the (Cant. vi. 11) is not cut down: lit. "is not object of the trust), proves itself to be as perishto be mowed down, not to be cut down," a cir-able as a spider's web, which the slightest touch, cumstantial clause ["a proper Imperf., in a or a mere puff of wind can destroy. For this state of not cut, un-cut." DAV.] comp. Ewald, figure comp. Is. lix. 5, also the Koran, Sur. 341, b.-Then, sooner than all grass must xxix. 40, and the Arabic proverb quoted by it dry up: because, namely, the condition of Schultens, Umbreit, etc. : Time destroys the its existence, water, is all at once withdrawn, so wall of the skillfully built castle, even as the that now it decays and withers sooner than house of the spider is destroyed." common grass. As parallels in thought, comp.

ch. v. 3; Matth. vi. 30.

Ver. 13. So are the ways of all who forget God.—A closing application of the comparison precisely similar to that in Prov. i. 19, where also the expression "ways" is used of what happens to men, their fate (comp. also Ps. i. 6; Job xxiii. 10; Wisd. v. 7, and often). as a synonym of D'y, the ungodly, comp. e. g. Ps. ix. 18 (17); 1. 22. And

Ver. 15. More specific expansion of ver. 14 b. He leaneth on his house-as the object of his confidence, like the man spoken of in Schiller's Bell: "Fest wie der Erde Grund," etc. Comp. on Dan. iv. 26. [But it stands not; he holds fast to it, but it endures not. There is a certain gradation of thought in the verse. The ungodly first leans, stays himself on his house, but it gives way beneath him; finding this to be the case, feeling his trust giving way beneath him, he strengthens his

hold on it (pin), grasps it with all his might, is next compared to a shrub sprouting with

as a sinking man seizes violently on anything fresh leaves, and shooting forth its luxuriant within his reach; but in vain! He and his branches, mantling over the wall of the garden; hope all tumble to ruin together.-E.] and lastly he is likened to something still more Ver. 16 sq. After thus dwelling briefly (vers. robust, to a tree striking its roots downwards 14, 15) on the comparison of a falling house, into a cairn of stones, and looking down with the description now returns to the previous proud confidence on its house of rock, and seemfigure derived from the vegetable kingdom. ing to defy the storm" We scarcely seem jusFor the marsh-reed, however, there is substi- tified, however, in assuming a different plant or tuted the climbing plant, with its high and luxu-tree to be intended in ver. 17 from that described riant growth; and the comparison is so pre-in ver. 16.-Conant thinks that "the explanasented that between the figure and the thing figured there is no sharp line of distinction observed, but each blends with the other. Ver. 16. Green is he (the of ver. 13, who is here conceived of as a climbing plant) in the sunshine: in the same heat which causes other plants to wither. And his sprouts run over his garden (p" ["his suckers"] as in ch. xiv. 7; xv. 30): i. e. the whole garden in which he, this luxuriantly growing, creeping plant, is placed, is filled and over-run with his root-sprouts which cling to

all about them.

Ver. 17. His roots entwine themselves (lit. are entwined) over heaps of stone; he looks upon a house of stone: in the sense, that is, that having grown up on it, he eagerly clings to it, as to a firm support. [On in Cocceius remarks: non timet locum lapidosum, sed imperterritus videt. He gazes on it boldly and confidently, with the purpose of making his home in it." HENGST.] By this is naturally to be understood a real stone house, its walls being of this material (comp. Gen. xlix. 22, according

to the correct explanation of modern commentators), not anything figurative: e. g. the solid structure of his fortune, as Delitzsch explains it. Several modern commentators (Böttcher, Ewald, Stickel, Fürst, Dillmann) take '-' (as in Prov. viii. 2), hence in the sense of "between, in the midst of," and in, according to its primary signification, in the sense of: "to pierce through, to split between;" hence: "to pierce through between the stones," viz. with its roots. Possible, but perhaps too artificial. [The LXX. translate: ¿v uow xahiкwv Choɛraι, taking n' in the sense of, and evidently reading or substituting for . Gesenius regards in here as a bold metaphor, seeing the stones, for feeling them with the roots. Noyes and Renan regard the expression as describing the depth at which the plant takes root. The latter's rendering is: "His roots are intertwined at the rock; he touches the region of the granite." Wordsworth's comment is interesting: "He surveyeth a house of stones; he is like a tree which seems firmly rooted in a heap of stones, and looks down, as it were, with a domineering aspect, and a proud consciousness of strength on a house of stone, in which he appears to be firmly built, as in a marble palace; and yet he will soon be withered and rooted up, and vanish from the face of the earth.-Observe the order of the comparison. The sinner had been first likened to a plant of papyrus or reed-grass, with its tall green stem and flowery tuft flourishing in the watery slime, but suddenly withered, when the soil in which it is set is dried up: he

tion long ago given by Olympiodorus is the true one; viz. that the wicked is here likened to a plant springing up in a stony soil, and perishing for lack of depth of earth :" to which Davidson the growth of this kind of plants, and ver. 17 is justly replies that "the stones assist, not impede still occupied with the detail of the luxuriance view of Zöckler, Schlottm., Hengst., etc., as on of the plant."-We are thus led back to the the whole the simplest and best; that both verses describe the same plant, ver. 16 as overrunning the garden with its creepers, ver. 17 as clinging stoutly to its house of stone.-E.]

Ver. 18. If He destroys it from its place. -The subj. in (comp. the same verb in ch. ii. 3) is either to be left indefinite: "if one destroys him from his place [as if he is destroyed]," Umbreit, etc.; or, which is better suited to the poet's whole style and mode of thought, God is to be understood as the subject. On the contrary, in the second member: It shall deny him: I have never seen thee], the subject to be supplied with the verb is un. questionably: "his place" (Dipp). It is a highly poetical conception which is here presented: the native ground, or the place of growth of an uprooted tree, i. e. of a transgressor cast down from the height of his prosperity, being, as it were, ashamed of him, denying him and refusing to know anything more of him.

Ver. 19. Behold this is the joy [ironically said] of his way: i. e. so does it end, his pretended joyful way of living (comp. on ver. 13); so sudden, calamitous is the end of his course. And out of the dust shall others sprout up. "Others" ( collect., comp. Ewald,

319, a), i. e. other men blessed with external prosperity, whose happiness will either prove more enduring, or, in case they too fall away from God, will as surely crumble away as his.

Third Division and Fifth Strophe: Application of the wisdom of the ancients, as just cited, to the case of Job: vers. 20-22. [The picture just given suggested a solemn warning to Job to beware of incurring such a fate. Bildad, however, instead of giving to the application this minatory turn, uses a milder and more conciliatory tone, encouraging Job to repentance, by promises of the divine favor.-E.]

Ver. 20. Behold, God despiseth nct the pious man, and grasps not the hand of evil-doers: i. e. in order to help and support them; comp Is. xli. 13; xlii. 6; Ps. lxxiii. 23; as also the figurative expansion of this truth just given ver. 12 sq.

Ver. 21. [Expanding, with personal application, the thought of ver. 20 a].-While He

his force of conscience to resist and drive from

will fill thy mouth with laughter, and | revelation brought to him mysteriously by night, thy lips with rejoicing.-Delitzsch (refer- while Bildad seeks to accomplish the same result ring to ch. i. 18; Ps. cxli. 10) rightly interprets by introducing the ancient teachers of wisdom at the beginning of this verse in the sense as speaking, in place of himself (comp. ver. 8 seq. of "while," and takes the whole verse as the with chap. iv. 12 seq.). In this citation from the protasis of which ver. 22 is the apodosis. traditional Chokmah he gives a free reproduction Others take in the less suitable sense of of the same, in like manner as Eliphaz in his account of the vision had furnished an ideal, po"yea even" (Umbreit), or amend to y, "yet," etic picture. ["It was a hard stroke on Job to comparing the passage with Ps. xlii. 6 (Cocceius, see not only his friends of the present, but all Houbigant, Böttcher, Ewald, Stickel, Dillmann). For the expression: "to fill any one's mouth good and wise men of the past, marshalled with laughter," comp. Ps. cxxvi. 2; for the text against him; and tremendous must have been nhy, instead of No2, (the case being accord- the field such outnumbering odds." DAVIDSON. ingly the reverse of that in ver. 11, 6), comp. makes. There is no surer way of falling into "It is a very important point which Bildad here Gesenius. 75 [8 74]. 21, b. error than for one individual or one age wilfully and proudly to cut loose from its connection with the whole, and to resolve to be wise independently and alone. That is historical rationalism, of which that which is commonly called rationalism is but one species. The witness of tradition indeed is to be received cum grano salis-and at this point the friends are at fault. Something more is required than a correct understanding; the truth transmitted by historio tradition always has aspects which have not yet been completely developed; it is not enough to bring forward the whole-we must also, when new problems present themselves, be prepared to build up the New on the basis of the Old. That was the point where Elihu had the advantage over the friends." HENGSTENBERG.] It seems accordingly as though the poet had purposed to put Bildad forward as simply an imitator of Eliphaz, destitute of independence, and to present his continuation of the discussion of the latter as a weaker reproduction of the same, his object being thus to cast into the shade and to subordinate the spiritual significance of the friends and their position as compared with that of Job.

Ver. 22. [Expansion of 20b, with personal application to Job's enemies.]-They that hate thee shall be clothed in shame: the same comparison in Ps. xxxv. 26; cix. 29; cxxxii. 18. Observe how persuasive and conciliatory is this conclusion of Bildad's discourse, in that he wishes for the "haters" of Job the worst fate, the portion of the ungodly; thus unmistakably separating himself and his friends fron that class, and placing himself decidedly on the side of Job.-And the tent of the wicked-it is no more.-For the use of the term "tent" as a concrete expression for the totality of well-being, comp. v. 24. Altogether too artificial is the explanation of Dillmann and others, denying the identity of the "wicked" with the "haters" in the first member, thus rendering the 1 at the beginning of this member adversatively: "but the tent of the wicked is no more," as though Ps. i. 6 were a parallel passage, and the whole discourse of Bildad, notwithstanding the milder tone assumed in the last strophe, should still close with a warning or a threat. That this is in truth the case, only indirectly (i. e. in so far as the whole of ver. 22 dwells on the miserable lot of the wicked, without recurring to the description of Job's prosperity, and closing with that), see in the Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks, No. 3.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

2. At the same time, however, this discourse is not wanting in new thoughts, which show

that it aims to attack Job from another side than that chosen by his former critic. Eliphaz had argued against Job from the doctrine, derived from experience, of the absolute universality of The similarity of this first discourse of Bildad to human sinfulness. Bildad strenuously maintains that of Eliphaz is so marked that it can almost against him the inexorable justice of God, who does be termed an abbreviated repetition, differing not let the sinner go unpunished, nor the rightconsiderably in the application of several parti-eous unrewarded. His fundamental thought is culars, of that with which Eliphaz had already charged Job. The same censorious introduction and the same mitigating and conciliatory close! And in the body of the discourse the same exhortation to betake himself to God in penitence and in prayer for help, with the accompanying promise of salvation (comp. ver. 5 seq. with chap. v. 8 seq.); the same figurative vesture frequently for one and the same truth, as, in particular, the description, twice occurring (ver. 12 and ver. 18), of the sudden withering and perishing of a plant of luxuriant growth, an unmistakable copy of the description first given by Eliphaz in chap. v. 3 seq. Another noteworthy point of similarity between the two discourses is that Eliphaz, in order more vividly to set forth and more forcibly to emphasize the central thought which he inculcates, presents the same in the form of a divine

presented in ver. 3: Will God pervert the right, or the Almighty pervert justice?" or, as it is somewhat differently conceived, and with a particular application to Job's case in ver. 20: "Behold, God does not spurn the godly, nor take fast hold of (lend support to) the hand of evil-doers." The entire discourse is devoted to the discussion of this proposition, that the immutability of God's justice (His justitia judicialis, tam remuneratoria quam punitiva) is demonstrated alike in its treatment of the evil and of the godly. Every part of the discourse aims to establish this-the admonitory reference to the punishment inflicted on Job's children (ver. 4), the exhortation to him to beseech God for help and reconciliation (ver. 5 seq.), the striking illustrations given of the perishableness of the prosperity of him who forgets God (ver. 11 seq.), and the con